Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

tedlovesjeeps71 · Post by **tedlovesjeeps71** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:10 pm

Yeah... I woke up and it was snowing? Wth??
Now the sun is out and the temp is climbing. At least it's not windy like last night!

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Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:32 pm

I HAVE MADE ANOTHER DECISION

I am going to cut and fold the rear quarters for a wrap around bumper. And to help clear 33's eventually. Marn's 73 Wagoneer is by far my favorite FSJ, and this will be my route to recreating his stance with a little more body armor.

That was done by wag4x6 on IFSJA. Only complaint i have is that the edge is a little sloppy. I'm going to do it a little differently and fold the edge before I weld in plate.

Then I'll need someone to help me need build something like this.

tedlovesjeeps71 · Post by **tedlovesjeeps71** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:58 pm

That's a fairly common mod on XJs too. It's a good way to make clearance.

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Charles Kline · Post by **Charles Kline** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:16 am

Are the bottom of the quarters rusted at all? if so that's one way to eliminate that issue.

shimniok · Post by **shimniok** » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:00 pm

Cool idea. Also, glad to hear about cloyes as that is the brand I got

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Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:41 pm

This week has been a pretty much non stop road trip. Left Denver on Saturday at noon and drove to Sheriden WY. Sunday drove from Sheriden to Missoula. And today I had my school visit till about two, then I rolled the scenic route to Salmon Idaho and Idaho Falls for the night. Unfortunately not in my Waggy but it's given me alot of time to reflect and consider.

For a time after the oil change my faith was tested. I considered giving up the Jeep for a while. But this trip has cemented my faith. I can't see myself driving anything else up there.

I'm buying an 89 with a good engine for parts. It's actually a pretty nice rig.

And I've decided I need to make increasing the cruising speed of the Waggy a top priority. Along with an accurate speedometer and working cruise control. Montana is a big state ripe for exploring and I'm eager to see as much as I can.

I have two options for increasing the cruising speed. I can get the highway RPM's I'm looking for by keeping my current gearing and going to 33's sooner. Or I can change to 2.73's and stay stock height for the time being. Which I choose will probably depend on what gearing is in the parts wag. Looks like I could do YEARS of exploring up there stock height on some all terrain tires. Crap low range or not. Maybe if the parts wag has 3.31's too I can talk Wyatt into trading me axles. We will see!

Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:00 pm

Oh, I guess I should talk about my Jeep sightings too.

Didn't see a freaking thing from Denver to Missoula. But once in Missoula I could tell I was in the right spot.

This 77 Wagoneer on 35's on campus!

And I think I counted ten FSJ's between Missoula and Idaho Falls. One WT Cherokee, Four J trucks all pre 1979, and five waggys.

tedlovesjeeps71 · Post by **tedlovesjeeps71** » Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:14 pm

Other than Colorado there was only two other states I'd considered moving/retiring in. Montana and Idaho.
Great county and their not TOO lost in their politics. Two very important facets to me. If CO keeps turning into California I may have to consider a move but I truly hope not. Enjoy your time out there and post lots of pics!!
Just watch out for the potholes. I hear Montana paves their roads with them!

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Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:35 pm

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:Other than Colorado there was only two other states I'd considered moving/retiring in. Montana and Idaho.
Great county and their not TOO lost in their politics. Two very important facets to me. If CO keeps turning into California I may have to consider a move but I truly hope not. Enjoy your time out there and post lots of pics!!
Just watch out for the potholes. I hear Montana paves their roads with them!

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I've heard the pothole thing too, but honestly I think the roads are in better shape than they are in Colorado! I was pleasantly surprised. The speed limits are fantastic too. Even I have to slow down at times.

tedlovesjeeps71 · Post by **tedlovesjeeps71** » Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:50 pm

Nikkormat wrote:
tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:Other than Colorado there was only two other states I'd considered moving/retiring in. Montana and Idaho.
Great county and their not TOO lost in their politics. Two very important facets to me. If CO keeps turning into California I may have to consider a move but I truly hope not. Enjoy your time out there and post lots of pics!!
Just watch out for the potholes. I hear Montana paves their roads with them!

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I've heard the pothole thing too, but honestly I think the roads are in better shape than they are in Colorado! I was pleasantly surprised. The speed limits are fantastic too. Even I have to slow down at times.

One thing I really like about that area are the trees. Lots of big, real trees. Not a great selection of big ones here in CO and my chainsaw is bored. When we get into a house, one of my priorities are a huge (Yuge!) wood burning, real fireplace. Not so much for heat but for enjoyment. I hate not having one and think it's a requirement.

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KJ Ryu · Post by **KJ Ryu** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:51 pm

You weren't looking hard enough when you came through Casper! If it was a weekday when you went through, you could have seen my J10 from I-25. And I'd have taken that T18 off your hands if I'd known you were coming through.

Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 1:14 am

KJ Ryu wrote:You weren't looking hard enough when you came through Casper! If it was a weekday when you went through, you could have seen my J10 from I-25. And I'd have taken that T18 off your hands if I'd known you were coming through.

Yeah I wasn't looking real hard in Casper. Too busy looking for bears. Picked up a speed warning just outside of chugwater. I had the cruise control set by the GPS so I think the speed she gave me was a little exaggerated. Probably just wanted to smell inside the cab seeing as I've got those nice green plates...

Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 1:35 am

It has arrived, a beautiful 1989 Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

NEW, like new ordered from the dealer in 2000, 360 20-30 thousand miles ago.

Mechanic owned since 2000

Sitting for 4 years after custom body work by deer.

2.72's front and rear with aftermarket posi tractions of some sort. I tried and tried to produce a one wheel peel but could not.

Surprisingly after sitting for four years she fired up and runs pretty great. She's got a miss on cylinder 5 or 7, haven't looked much into that yet seems to be a bad plug or plug wire. Dang thing even stops. Drove it around Wyatt's yard and neighborhood for two hours tonight. It was low on power, didn't figure that one out till we parked it. Vacuum advance is disconnected. Besides that and some other vacuum issues this thing is sa-weeet man.

It had some really questionable body work before the PO bought it. That started rearing its ugly head around 2009 so they just kept running it. Someone replaced the passenger side rocker panel by panel gluing a new one over top the old rusty one and blending it together with Bondo. That worked about as well as you would imagine. Also has a few little other areas poking through the paint. The floors however, are absolutely perfect. Really with the exception of that rocker the body is in better shape than mine. The doors are trashed but those are a bolt on part so I don't really count them.

Interior is awesome. Only flaws are a little dash warpage and the typical failed armrest pins. Even has the original floor mats. Has some funky aftermarket security stuff that needs looked at. But no other modifications. Headliner and overhead console are the best I've seen. Has door issues though. Needs lock springs, a window tape, a few handles, an arm rest...

The plan as of now is to get this thing on the road for Moab. And then decide what to do with it from there. We were going to chop top it, but it might be too nice.

Charles Kline · Post by **Charles Kline** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:05 am

Nice dude!

tedlovesjeeps71 · Post by **tedlovesjeeps71** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:00 am

That's sweet! And you got the axle gears you were after, yea! So why no interior pics? You KNOW we luv us some pics!

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Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:36 pm

Charles Kline wrote:Nice dude!

Thanks! It was a score for sure.

Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:46 pm

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:That's sweet! And you got the axle gears you were after, yea! So why no interior pics? You KNOW we luv us some pics!

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I forgot interior pics, but it's pretty boring. Just imagine a sea of red.

The 2.72's were a pleasant surprise! I expected more 3.31's because this thing has the dealer hitch and transmission cooler. Crawled under it and read the tag, sure enough 2.72's. Strangely it has the hitch and transmission cooler, but no trailer wiring and no Trac lock sticker in the glovebox. All of which came in the heavy duty tow package. I'm thinking the hitch and transmission cooler were added later by the original owner.

You can tell it has 2.72's too, because the transmission will let you drop down to first at 35 vs 25 in my rigs with 3.31-3.54 gears. You can also go 40 in first gear at what sounds to be around 3500 rpm, vs screaming at 5 grand.

Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:54 pm

So I'm thinking that I'm going to keep my 90, and at the very least steal this 89's axles. And hopefully that sweet motor.

That then opens up the question, what are we going to do with the rest of the 89? Well I think Wyatt should use it instead of his 91. But then again, he's emotionally attached to it the same way I am to my 90. So that may not be something he wants to do. But his little brother is getting his learner's permit this week... So maybe we should get him into a FSJ...

tedlovesjeeps71 · Post by **tedlovesjeeps71** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 1:19 pm

If the headliner is red and nice I may have to talk to you about it for the wife's. The PO "fixed" hers but used black generic carpet.

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candymancan · Post by **candymancan** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:18 am

whats the condition of the side mirrors chrome ? Is it all spotted or is it all shiny still ? If you dont want the body.. I'll trade you my spotted chrome mirrors for your good ones lol, so you at least still have a body with mirrors hah. I hate my spotted chrome mirrors its the only thing left chrome wise thats ugly on my Jeep and no one makes OEM GW mirrors. My only option might be to go to a shop and spend a fortune on re-chroming.

How hard is it to swap the gearing in the axles ? I found a 87 in the JY with no factory trans cooler or hitch. I suspect it might have 2.72's as well i have to go back and look.

Although i coulda sworn when i got the build sheet from Jeep it said 2.72 on mine, but i have factory hitch and trans cooler.. Gah is there anyway to tell offically since my tags are gone and im not sure if i trust the build sheet.

EDIT: okay i just pulled my build sheet and it says the gearing on mine is 2.26mm that cant be right can it ? I can do 80mph in the thing without any effort if this matters, havent tried faster because im too afraid too lol

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Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

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I have momentum, and a plan again. As well as some new priorities.

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Re: Increasingly simple, do almost anything Grand Wagoneer build.

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The parts car cometh.

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